This is the third book in the Tales of the Otori trilogy. I will be honest right away and tell you than none of the two first books struck me as very exciting, and this one did not either. I don’t know why exactly, but I am not intrigued by this. The trilogy has touch of ‘fantasy’ in it; a small amount of people have special powers. Other than that it takes place in a normal feudal Japan and is all about typical 17th century power struggles.

Lian Hearn has my outmost respect for all the research she made on the time and place he set his story in, very admirable. And she never compromises with the story’s setting in order to make her main characters look good. Authors often do the mistake of forcing modern standards on their heroes – even if the story takes place in the 17th century. Main character Otori Takeo is admittedly a bit less harsh than the others, but he still tortures his enemies, brutally slaughters their families and gets absolutely furious when his most beloved wife leaves the house without his permission. Good job Lian.